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Shepley Bulfinch Closing Reception and Panel Discussion

2024-04-19T10:39:51-04:00

Photo by Raj Das.

Join us on Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 6PM in the McCormick Gallery for the closing reception as we celebrate the exhibit A Legacy of Design Innovation: Shepley Bulfinch at 150 and Beyond with refreshments, networking, and a panel discussion: Ever-changing Boston: Urban adaptation in the face of change.

6:00 – 7:00 PM Refreshments and networking in McCormick Gallery
7:00 – 8:00 PM Panel discussion in Cascieri Hall

The working life of Americans has changed dramatically since 2020, and our new work/life habits continue to have unique impacts on the built environment. After decades of re-investment in cities, low demand for commercial office space has left many buildings fully or partially vacant. Downtowns and commercial districts are adjusting to our collectively altered patterns of behavior and movement.

These changes can alight opportunity. How can buildings be repurposed, and with what? How can this be done with equity and sustainability at front of mind?

To build on...

BAC Talks 2024: Expanding Perspectives: Think, Share, Change

2024-03-19T12:27:35-04:00

The most popular alumni event of the year is here! Join us for BAC Talks, a full-day alumni symposium consisting of a captivating blend of in-person and virtual discussion panels, engaging talks, and inspiring keynote speakers. Whether you're an alum, student, or member of our global community, these enlightening conversations are led by industry experts that promise to inspire, inform, and connect.

This year's theme, Expanding Perspectives: Think, Share, Change, will bring together a variety of design professionals and thought leaders to discuss and share current perspectives and trends in architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design in a fast changing environment.

Thrilling announcement! Janet Echelman, Artist and Principal at Studio Echelman, and the 32nd featured Cascieri lecturer, will not only grace us with her presence for the distinguished Cascieri Lecture in the evening but will also be the keynote speaker at BAC Talks! Join us for the entire day of BAC Talks, ...

A Legacy of Design Innovation: Shepley Bulfinch at 150 and Beyond

2024-03-07T10:14:15-05:00

For 150 years, Shepley Bulfinch has countered the status quo with forward-thinking buildings and spaces of inspired living, learning, and healing. Since its inception the firm’s work has been at the forefront of major social movements and moments.

Innovating higher education learning environments

A foundation in higher education, established in 1884 with Harvard University’s Austin Hall, developed with advances like electric light and the formation of professional schools to train doctors. Over the last 50 years, the firm’s focus has sharpened with an expertise in libraries and science and technology facilities. Consistently artful student life design has helped institutions bring buildings to life and invigorate academic communities across the country from Stanford to the University of Notre Dame.

Putting patients first in healthcare

Coinciding with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Shepley completed Boston’s Lying In Hospital—one of the nation’s firs...

Designing for Belonging

2024-02-05T10:36:20-05:00

MDS-DHH students take a group photo during Intensives week in the McCormick Gallery.

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) was the first forward-thinking design school to launch an online Master of Design Studies Design for Human Health program (MDS-DHH) nearly a decade ago in 2014.

“This program is the place for those who want to design to make a difference in users’ lives. It’s for those who are trying to figure out how to create spaces where users feel excited, feel a sense of belonging, and see that their environment tells that story,” Valerie Fletcher, a member of the Board of Trustees at the BAC said from the Institute for Human Centered Design, where she serves as Executive Director.

Nowadays, design has more complex functional demands than ever before–with users’ needs going far beyond the art of form. Just a few of those considerations include climate change, natural disasters, mass incarceration, forced migration, pandemics, school shootings, a rise in dementia cases, and s...

Preserving Heritage Through Modern Partnerships in Remote Pakistan

2023-12-20T12:54:28-05:00

In a remote region in Pakistan, flanked by some of the world’s highest peaks, sits an innovative university that is working with local students to preserve their region’s cultural heritage and advance scholarly research.

Getting to the University of Baltistan, Skardu (UOBS) in the Gilgit-Baltistan region is a feat in and of itself, but it’s worth the trek.

Students in the new UOBS Archaeology and Heritage Studies program with UOBS faculty and BAC partners at Buddha Rock, Skardu. Photo by David Hansen.

“You hear things about how hard it is to get to but, the length, difficulty, and beauty of the journey doesn’t register until you experience it,” says Eleni Glekas, Director of Historic Preservation at The Boston Architectural College (BAC) and author and principal investigator of a three-year, federally funded partnership with the UOBS.

The ambitious and focused grant, which was funded by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, was strategically built around thr...

Slowness : Banyan Park, Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, India

2023-11-09T10:42:59-05:00

In 1999, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien wrote an essay in the magazine 2G titled “On Slowness.” It began as a lamentation for the loss of the drawing tools of architecture but was really a meditation on the importance of design as a slow practice. Today, the idea of “slowness” is ever more fragile and ever more precious. Architecture remains essentially slow; it is a discipline that profoundly affects the physical world and requires special attention to the unique materiality of its place.

In 2003, Mr. Ratan Tata contacted Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Somaya & Kalappa Consultants, based in Mumbai, to design a modern technology campus for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He envisioned a high-tech 2,000 person campus seamlessly integrated into the 23-acre wooded property in Mumbai, India. Ratan Tata himself studied architecture, and he believed this project had the potential to signify the importance in forging a design approach closely tied to its culture and surrounding ...

Designing for a Brighter Future

2023-09-07T14:17:44-04:00

When Haydée Hernandez, M.Arch'23, logged onto Zoom from her home in San Antonio, Texas, a Boston Architectural College black commencement gown, purple hood, and black beret were pressed and hanging on her closet door in the background.

The next week she would venture to Boston for the first time in her life to attend her BAC commencement, walk across the stage to the applause of the 158 other Class of 2023 graduates, and receive her Online Master of Architecture degree.

Haydée Hernandez, M.Arch'23, receives her diploma at the 2023 Commencement. L to R: Judy Nitsch, BAC Board Chair, Mahesh Daas, BAC President, Haydée Hernandez, M.Arch'23, and Karen Nelson, Dean of the School of Architecture.

For the 55-year-old single mom who had worked her way through the BAC while parenting a teenager through the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a tremendous amount to celebrate.

The following week during his commencement address, BAC President Mahesh Daas would recognize Haydée as “A commendable example o...

The Boston Architectural College is Building Careers: Nathan's IPAL Story

2023-07-26T13:02:41-04:00

If life had gone differently, Nathan Rosazza would have spent his time playing guitar on stage. “I never really cared about school,” he says. “I just wanted to be a rockstar.” He dropped out of high school, earning a GED instead, and worked backbreaking warehouse jobs in western Massachusetts, all the while continuing to write songs and play in bands.

When he turned 30, however, he started to realize that perhaps his dream of being a rockstar wasn’t going to happen. He remembered a conversation he had with a mentor a decade earlier when he was thinking about a job in construction or carpentry. “He suggested my personality was more suited to being an architect,” he says. “It kind of planted a seed. Nathan eventually planted that seed, growing it into a career. He had always enjoyed drawing, as well as writing and recording songs, and now set about applying that creative mindset to designing buildings. He joined the Air Force Reserve and began taking architecture classes at a local com...

The People Who Have Your Back

2023-06-22T12:42:04-04:00

“I give back because the BAC changed my life,” Janet Roche, MDS-DHH’17, said plainly. The Alumni Advisory Council Chair is on a mission to pass it forward to other BAC graduates. “I want to help create a network that is a place for all BAC graduates to return, find help and mentors, share resources, and keep in touch with faculty. It’s where you can find the people who will have your back.”

Janet, who studied social work at Boston University as an undergraduate and worked with incarcerated youth before founding a video production company, came to the BAC in her forties.

From right to left, Janet Roche, Chloe Hendricks, Karina Rodriguez-Winkler, and Adrienne (Jones) Erdman – all part of the MDS-DHH Class of 2017 during Commencement in the Old South Church on May 19, 2017.

When she switched career tracks to join the design industry, Janet refused to focus on luxury interiors. An innate changemaker, she was amongst the first cohort of students to enroll in the Master of Design Studies ...

Reaching Out and Speaking Up

2023-05-18T15:26:46-04:00

Octavia Pinckney, M.Arch'23, has seen, “Minorities in this country have been hit disproportionately hard by environmental disasters.” Growing up in Texas, Octavia’s own family was seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “I understand firsthand what not being prepared for a disaster can feel like,” they say.

Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, which left so many people unhoused, motivated Octavia to build a mission-driven career in architecture. Over the last few years, they worked as a Designer at Perkins+Will while simultaneously pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at The Boston Architectural College (BAC).

An especially impactful course at the BAC, Design and Social Entrepreneurship taught by Jack Cochran, challenged Octavia to create a business model for a startup. Their plan was a resilient design platform where people would learn how to prepare homes for natural disasters and how to tap into local funding resources. Right now, the concept is speculative—but they intend t...

Polish American Architect Daniel Libeskind To Receive Honorary Doctorate At The Boston Architectural College's 2023 Commencement

2023-05-02T11:55:00-04:00

BOSTON, May 1, 2023 -- The Boston Architectural College (BAC) is pleased to announce that celebrated Polish American architect Daniel Libeskind, an international figure in architecture and urban design, will receive an honorary doctorate and deliver the commencement speech on Friday, May 26. Daniel Libeskind joins an illustrious list of recent Commencement speakers at the BAC that includes architect Billie Tsien; Pritzker prize winner Balkrishna Doshi; architect William J. Bates; landscape architect and artist Martha Schwartz; and BAC alum Robert (Bob) J. Vila.

Celebrated Polish American architect Daniel Libeskind to receive honorary doctorate and deliver commencement speech at The Boston Architectural College. Photo copyright Stefan Ruiz.

"At this moment, starting a career in architecture offers both great challenges and opportunities." Celebrated Polish American architect Daniel Libeskind to receive honorary doctorate and deliver commencement speech at The Boston Architectural Colle...

The Boston Architectural College is Building Careers - Meredith's IPAL Story

2023-04-07T13:56:17-04:00

Fulfilling a dream to become a licensed architect can be an arduous process. First, students must earn a degree from an accredited school; then, they have to complete 3,740 hours practicing under a licensed architect; and finally, they are required to pass exams in six different practice areas. “All of that is very hard on people,” says Mark Rukamathu, faculty and Director of Special Projects at The Boston Architectural College (BAC). “On average it takes 12.8 years from the time somebody starts school to when they become a licensed architect.”

Making matters worse, Mark adds, in most cases, the state licensing laws do not allow students to take exams while earning their degree, but require them to figure out how to complete them on their own after graduation. “Especially if they have special circumstances, such as a family, achieving all of these requirements within a timely fashion can be very difficult.”

To respond to those demands, the BAC has implemented the Integrated Path to A...

BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas: Moshe Sadie

2023-03-07T11:46:12-05:00

WATCH EPISODE

Fearless, experimental, revolutionary, earth shattering—all words used to describe our next guest featured on BAC Channel with President Daas. Not one to be defined by labels or constrained within any boundaries, Moshe Safdie is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. His immense impact on how we see the built environment is spread around the globe—with each of his projects informing how humans connect and relate to architecture and each other.

We welcome you to accompany President Daas during this candid and thoughtful conversation about a career spanning 50 years, lessons realized, utopian ideas, his legacy, and a newly released memoir of his life–and what comes next for Moshe Safdie.

Team Player: Carolyn Day is Advocating for Sustainability in Design

2023-03-07T11:43:16-05:00

As a young professional with an engineering background, Carolyn Day, M.Arch'08, was attracted to The Boston Architectural College (BAC) because its educational model would support her studies while simultaneously allowing her to take on increasing responsibility at work.

Starting out as a Sustainable Design certificate student, Carolyn naturally took to the project-based curriculum and quickly enrolled in the Master of Architecture program.

“At the BAC, I learned how to pace myself and I learned time management,” the 2022 winner of the AIA Young Architects Award says with conviction. Those lessons have become even more relevant as the new mom juggles parenting responsibilities and a meaningful job as a project manager at Perkins Eastman in Boston.

“As a culture of architects, we really need to be better to ourselves in work-life balance,” she says before admitting, “Yes, I do put in overtime, but I don't put in the crazy time that people might think I do.”

Drawn to architecture “to ...

This is the Place for You

2023-02-01T10:40:33-05:00

To say that Ines Latorre is busy is an understatement—but she thrives on the wavelength of determination and hustle. The t-shirt she’s wearing in her Instagram profile reads, “I CAN & I WILL.” That’s pure Ines. The founder and principal of Latorre Architecture decided to go back to school after receiving her undergraduate degree in 2001 from Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). She will graduate in 2024 with her Master of Interior Architecture from The Boston Architectural College.

Between raising three school aged kids in Manhattan, working on her firm’s major residential projects taking place in Mexico, and studying in Boston, she has to stay laser focused on her goals to keep things moving in the right direction.

“When I studied architecture 25 years ago, sustainability was not a word, it wasn’t a concept, it didn’t even exist,” she says, shaking her head. “In this profession, you have to keep learning at every stage in your career.”

At the BAC, the mid-career professional aimed to...

Boston Architectural College Commissions International Exhibit Debuting January 2023

2022-12-20T15:18:18-05:00

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) is pleased to announce an original international exhibit featuring works by Pritzker Prize winning Indian architect and BAC’s honorary alumnus Balkrishna Doshi, Architecture is Within Us: The Selected Works of Balkrishna Doshi. Doshi is considered one of the leading architects of our time having worked with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. As a pioneer of culturally-rooted modernist architecture and urban design, Doshi has contributed to elevating architectural discourse throughout his life's career.

Considerable planning went into bringing this distinctive collection of Doshi’s work to the BAC—led by the BAC’s President, Dr. Mahesh Daas and Dean of Architecture, Karen Nelson—along with close collaboration with architect Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, curator of the exhibition, who notes, "For Doshi, humanism and empathy have been the guiding principles that inform his approach to architecture. This exhibition of selected projects further explores and unde...

BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas: Billie Tsien

2022-12-01T09:48:46-05:00

During this second episode of BAC Channel, President Daas speaks with noted architect, educator, and practitioner, Billie Tsien, architect of the Obama Presidential Center, founding partner of New York City based studio Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and the BAC’s 2022 Honorary Doctorate recipient.

Join us as she shares her insights and ideas across a wide range of topics that span from the BAC’s place in Boston, anime, India’s transformational impact on her work, the meaning of beauty in architecture and design as well as her deep roots in art and her commitment and contributions to enacting a more resilient, beautiful, and diverse world.

Watch the Episode

This is the Place for You

2022-10-31T11:25:44-04:00

To say that Ines Latorre, M.Arch'24, is busy is an understatement—but she thrives on the wavelength of determination and hustle. The t-shirt she’s wearing in her Instagram profile reads, “I CAN & I WILL.” That’s pure Ines. The founder and principal of Latorre Architecture decided to go back to school in 2020 to get her Master of Architecture at The Boston Architectural College.

At the BAC, the mid-career professional aimed to gain a deep understanding of the latest innovations in her field including a knowledge of new materials...

Boston Architectural College: Just Environments Fall 2022 Lecture Series

2022-09-28T16:05:26-04:00

Boston Architectural College: Just Environments Fall 2022 Lecture Series

The Boston Architectural College is Building Careers - Karen's IPAL Story

2022-09-15T15:11:13-04:00

To respond to those demands, the BAC has implemented the Integrated Path to A...

A Cherry On Top Of The Design Cake

2022-08-15T14:29:50-04:00

There are many connotations to the word “home.” In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy famously proclaimed that there’s no place like it. Home is where the heart is, after all, and “Home Sweet Home” has adorned many doormats.

At the same time, how can a structure of wood, brick, stone, or cement become a place where we can feel happy and safe? There is no one answer to that question, of course, because it greatly depends on the person and their background. But human beings also like to feel happy, or at least safe and relaxed, in environments that aren’t their homes. We’re all familiar with the phrase “make yourself at home,” which means “to become comfortable in a place one does not live.”

But we also know that that is easier said than done, especially in high-stress environments like subways, airports, hospitals, schools, and even battlefields. Fortunately, there is an architectural movement called salutogenic design, an evidence-based design strategy focused on improving human health and w...

Building Trust

2022-06-13T14:30:53-04:00

Jonathan C. Garland, President, and Founder of his rapidly growing Boston-based architecture & real estate development firm, J. Garland Enterprises (JGE), studied at the BAC for more than eight years before graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 2009. Despite the endurance needed to complete his education, he says, “I will never forget when I put on that robe for graduation day. I didn’t want the experience to end.”

And for Jonathan, it never has.

He has been a generous and loyal donor to the BAC and now sits on the BAC’s Board of Trustees, where he hopes to provide guidance on how to make design education more diverse. Jonathan’s unwavering commitment to equity, access, and diversity throughout the design and development industry shines through in his personal pledge to match any donation up to $10,000 towards the BAC’s Student Scholarship Fund this June.

“In the Black community, architecture is not something that is spoken about, no less mentioned as a career choice,” Jonat...

Mobile Makers Parks its Truck at the BAC

2022-04-11T14:50:03-04:00

Join us for our Mobile Makers Boston pop-up events on:

April 19: https://the-bac.edu/events-ind...
April 20: https://the-bac.edu/events-ind...
April 21: https://the-bac.edu/events-ind...
April 22: https://the-bac.edu/events-ind...

Maya Bird-Murphy, M.Arch’17, wasn’t happy with the demographics of design. According to NCARB’s By the Numbers report, 83% of newly licensed architects were white, and 65% were male. She set out to change that by founding the nonprofit Mobile Makers.

Mobile Makers brings design directly to neighborhoods around Chicago. The Mobile Makerspace is an old delivery van, cleverly transformed into a well-equipped, contemporary mobile design studio that opens its doors to children around the city. Mobile Makers offers community pop-ups and partners with schools, museums, and local nonprofits for presentations and workshops. The first permanent Mobile Makers hub recently opened at Chicago’s Kimball Arts Center.

Maya has seen Mobile Makers make a difference already. In 2...

The Boston Architectural College Launches BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas Featuring Pritzker Laureate Balkrishna Doshi

2022-04-11T14:46:37-04:00

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) announces the launching of its newest video venture, BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas. This ongoing program will offer a series of exclusive, insightful, and one-on-one conversations between President Mahesh Daas and thought leaders from around the design professions and related industries.

Each episode aligns with the BAC’s critical mission to diversify the design professions through expanded access to excellence in design education. Another key program goal includes increasing awareness of the design discipline to advance design literacy within the public sphere.

The BAC is honored to kick-off its inaugural episode of BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas by featuring Professor Balkrishna Doshi—India's first and only Pritzker prize winning architect, educator, guru, and the BAC’s 2021 honorary alumnus. As President Daas noted, “While the number of his projects might be measurable, the impact of his influence is immeasurable.”

In this first episode, which ...

BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas

2022-04-07T15:38:48-04:00

The BAC is thrilled to announce the launch of BAC Channel with Mahesh Daas. We are honored this inaugural episode features President Daas speaking with Professor Balkrishna Doshi–the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Prize, and one of the greatest influencers in architecture and design. Now that you know what the ‘buzz’ is all about, we invite you to stay tuned for more episodes! Each episode features President Daas talking with thought leaders across the design and related industries– aligned with our mission to provide excellence in design education emerging from practice and accessible to diverse communities. Watch the video: https://hubs.la/Q017t3mx0

2022 Spring Lecture Series Poster: Just Design

2022-03-08T10:07:22-05:00

The BAC 2022 Spring Lecture Series events can be viewed below or on our website at: https://the-bac.edu/events-ind...

HMFH Architects and BAC Announce New Scholarship Fostering Diversity in Design

2022-02-18T10:23:00-05:00

HMFH Architects, in partnership with The Boston Architectural College (BAC), announced the establishment of the HMFH Scholarship Fund, created to expand academic opportunities for students underrepresented in the architecture and design professions. This new Scholarship aims to increase access to these professions for Black, Indigenous, people of color, first-generation college students, students with disabilities, and other underrepresented populations. Creation of the Scholarship continues a decades-long relationship between HMFH and the BAC.

“HMFH’s extraordinarily generous gift is a visible and inspiring message that will lead the way in furthering the BAC’s mission of diversifying the design professions and making design education accessible to all people,” said Dr. Mahesh Daas, Boston Architectural College President. “This generous investment, which continues HMFH’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, will create sustainable and vital opportunities for underreprese...

The Bobby G. Foster Memorial Scholarship will support Black BAC Students in Architecture

2022-01-19T17:30:00-05:00

“If you talk to anybody that knew my husband they will tell you, ‘My goodness did that man like to talk about the Boston Architectural College,’” says Maria Latimore of her late husband, Bobby G. Foster. “In social settings, he’d introduce himself and immediately it would morph into, ‘I went to the BAC because I always wanted to be an architect.’” She chuckles recalling how she’d often have to intercept these conversations just to get new acquaintances out of Bobby’s clutches. “He’d go on and on about the place.”

Bobby began studying architecture at the BAC in 1970 while working full time (and often overtime) at GE Aviation to support his family in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. He took a decades-long break and returned in his mid-sixties and completed all his course requirements with high grades, but never officially graduated. He pulled plenty of all-nighters building housing models at his heavily used home drafting table, but there simply weren’t enough hours in his day to wri...

The Maurice F. Childs Memorial Lecture: Yung Ho Chang, Architecture, More or Less

2021-10-29T13:05:18-04:00

Learn how to attend this free virtual lecture, Friday, November 5 at 7PM ET, featuring Yung Ho Chang, FAIA, a founding partner and principal architect of the Beijing-based Atelier⁠—China’s first independent private architectural firm—Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ).

Yung Ho Chang says about the lecture, "Sometimes, architecture is more than the making of buildings when it engages urban, social, and cultural issues. Sometimes, architecture is less than the making of buildings, but it still helps to improve people's lives by venturing into other design disciplines, such as designing a cake. The practice of FCJZ covers the spectrum of architecture from one end to the other."

Educated in China and the U.S., Chang received his Master of Architecture from University of California, Berkeley in 1984. He has practiced in China since 1992—establishing Atelier Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ) with Lijia Lu in 1993. His numerous recognitions include First Place in the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition...

Alumni Profile: Amanda Zettel (MDS-HP ’21)

2021-08-25T17:19:12-04:00

Amanda Zettel graduated from the BAC with her Master of Design Studies in Historic Preservation and Conservation in May of 2021. She was also awarded the BAC’s first-ever Historic Preservation Fellowship to assist Institutional Advancement and Facilities in the pursuit of Community Preservation Act funding for restoration work on the BAC campus. Zettel received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from Parsons, The New School for Design, in 2004. She was also awarded the Edwin T. Steffian, '10 (Hon.) Centennial Award for Master's Thesis Excellence in Design Studies at The BAC, and Outstanding Achievement in Design at Parsons.

Zettel currently lives in Charlestown, MA and is the president of the Charlestown Preservation Society.

How did you get started in your career in design?

I knew I had always wanted to go into design, but the middle-class immigrant community I grew up in in Orange County [California] didn’t have the disposable income to hire interior designers or a...